Wrong words. Misplaced words. Misspelled words. Incorrect punctuation. Faulty capitalization. Incomplete thoughts.

When it comes to ad copy gone wrong, this ad’s headline is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg — how many mistakes do you see? Photo courtesy of Flickr user Sylvar.

Proofreaders and editors are paid to find these issues and remedy them. Especially in advertising, using correct grammar can mean the life or death of a product or service.

Life or death? Yes, indeed. Think about it this way: Everyone makes mistakes, yes? Yes. You trust those who make fewer, perhaps less obvious — definitely less life-threatening — mistakes than those who make gaffe after embarrassing gaffe, yes? Yes. And it appears that those who make fewer mistakes seem to have their act together pretty well, or at least more so than their fumbling counterparts, yes? Yes.

Appearance means a lot, especially in the ad world.

If you put out for public consideration an advertisement that has improper grammar of some sort, it implies a few unsavory things:

• You don’t know any better (poor, unfortunate sod).
• You are sloppy with your work (if you are careless with advertising your wares or service, you very well may be careless with your wares and service, as well).
• You don’t have a strong support system or staff (surely someone would have brought the ad goof to your attention before it was too late).
• You don’t have your act together (you must be shabby at time management; otherwise, you would have found the time to read your ad copy and find the mistake).

Perhaps none of the above points are correct; perhaps you’re the most conscientious seller of your particular product or service in the whole, wide world. Perhaps a lot of people won’t even notice the problem — but perhaps a lot of people will. And your ad doesn’t show your persnickety attention to detail. Your ad shows a mistake, and the potential damage to your reputation is out there for the whole, wide world to see.

If you’re lucky, yours is a digital mistake that can quickly be fixed, with hopefully minimal negative repercussions. If you’ve a printed mistake on your hands, an ad reprint is about all you can do to fix the grammar gaffe — assuming you find it yourself or someone takes pity on you and points it out as a friendly gesture.

In advertising and marketing, companies and individuals alike rush through ads, direct mailers and brochures in order to meet a deadline. They either skip the proofreading completely or they trust that someone else will catch any unfavorable copy. Or perhaps they proof the early versions of copy and forget to have it looked at right before it heads to print. That is the exact time when many mistakes occur and when proofreading, perhaps, counts the most.

One set of eyes is OK in editing but, really, two — or more — are much, much better. And if you’re trusting writers to proof their own work, you’re in for disappointment, as most writers are not the best proofreaders around. Writers, too, have difficulty proofing what they’ve written because they expect to see it correctly — as it is in their heads. And even the most capable proofreaders are, believe it or not, human. Thus, they make mistakes. It’s tough to be 100 percent right 100 percent of the time, yes? Yes.

Checks and balances, friends. That’s what it takes to get solid, grammatically correct (and understandable) copy out there for the public eye.

From our neck of the woods to yours, all of us at Armstrong|Shank wish you all things merry and bright this holiday season!
 

This time of year finds many marketers pouring over their budgets for the coming year, trying to figure out how to stretch precious dollars as far as possible while trying to keep the finance and marketing folks happy (which is nearly impossible to do).

I think we need to step back and rethink how we approach budgeting for marketing and establish some new rules. I submit for your consideration the new BUDGETS rules:

Blow it up. How many times have you started your budget-planning process by copying last year’s budget and pasting it into a new spreadsheet? From now on, start fresh. Don’t include things in this year’s budget simply because they were in last year’s budget. How can you expect to improve results if you always start with a copy of the previous plan?

Understand your profitability. This is how you make finance happy. Not all sales are created equal. Some of your products and services are more profitable than others. Talk to your finance team and determine where your profits really come from and build a budget based on growing that part of the business.

Don’t start with a number. When you start budgeting with a total number in mind, you box yourself in and put roadblocks between you and innovative tactics. Instead of starting with an overall figure, start with objectives and goals. Let them drive the budgeting process instead of a magic number that is probably just based on last year’s budget.

Goals are about more than measuring sales. There should be two sets of goals in your mind: marketing goals and communications goals. Marketing goals are most often related to revenues and profits. We want to increase sales by x% over the next 12 months. Communications goals are tied to your market position and branding. They detail what you want people to think about your company or products. They are less tangible than marketing goals, but just as important.

Educated guesses are OK. Setting budgets can be stressful because it feels like we are locking ourselves in for a long period of time. We almost never have all the information we need to make the best decisions. Let’s come to terms with that and realize that we don’t need all the answers. Sometimes we need to just look at the information in front of us and make an educated guess (emphasis on the educated part). The best budgets are never set in stone, but are flexible. If your best guess turns out to be wrong, you can always revise the budget accordingly.

Try something new. Be intentional about funding at least one new tactic in your budget. Again, doing what you have always done is not good strategy.

Short is better. It is a budget, not a novel. Keep it as short as possible. The page count of your budget plan is in no way related to how successful it will be.

There you have it. The BUDGETS rules for budgeting. Now, get cracking, because next year will be here before you know it.

Here’s an easy test: Do you want to be found by your target consumer? If the answer is yes, then yes — your business should be on YouTube.

Here are some stats to back this assertion up:

• YouTube is the 3^rd-most-visited website in the world. In the world. A quick search on compete.com shows that in September 2011, YouTube had 141,721,097 unique visitors in the United States alone. That’s almost 50 percent of the entire population of the U.S. And with a broad demographic of 18–54 years, YouTube is not just something “the kids” are using.

• YouTube is the second-largest search engine. It ranks just behind Google. If you are concerned about having good organic results for your website on Google, you should be concerned about having a consistent presence on YouTube.

• More video content is currently uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major U.S. networks have created in the past 60 years. That’s a lot of content — something for everyone, including your audience. Find those channels and tell your story there.

• More than half of the videos on YouTube have been rated or received comments. Considering how many videos there are on YouTube, half is quite a lot.  Do you want to get the conversation started with your consumers? YouTube is a great place to start.

Still need more proof that your company should be on YouTube?  One word: Blendtec.

Blendtec is a company that manufactures food blenders in the U.S. You may have seen some of their “Will It Blend” videos on YouTube; if not, here’s one for your viewing enjoyment:

Several of these videos are on YouTube, each with millions of views. “So what?” you may be thinking. “Millions of views? What does that mean, and who really cares?”  According to a case study performed in January 2009 by SocialLens, Blendtec saw an increase in their retail sales of 700 percent — a 700 percent increase in sales as a result of one YouTube video campaign.

Perhaps not every brand video on YouTube will result in a 700 percent increase in sales, but if your consumers cannot find, like, share and interact with you, they’ll find, like, share and interact with your competition.

If you have to tell them, you don’t have them

I recently found an oldish article by Steve McKee on Bloomberg BusinessWeek about five words that really shouldn’t be used in advertising: quality, value, service, caring and integrity. Written in ’06, this article still rings true today.

Let’s briefly examine each word and see what the hullabaloo is all about.

Picture courtesy of Flickr user Mykl Roventine

Quality

McKee points out that every product being advertised has some version of quality. His article mentions high-priced items, such as a Lexus with its handcrafted finishes or über-smooth ride, versus low-priced quality, such as the Hyundai extended warranty plan. Both products offer quality of some sort. The perceived quality is a bit subjective because one person may be interested in plush seats while the next buyer only cares about not having to pay for service in three years instead of seven.

Then there’s the issue of high-quality products versus low-quality junk. And really, no one’s going to advertise that they sell low-quality junk, are they? So telling the targeted audience that your stuff is high-quality stuff isn’t what’s going to get them to buy. Detailing what the high-quality stuff is — made with Italian wool, heat-resistant up to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, able to leap 80-story buildings while putting a four-course meal on your table — will get them interested.

Value

I know of at least one company that puts the word “value” on just about every piece of literature about their products and services. Is that truly effective? Doubtful.

Who decides whether something is valuable or not, the seller or the buyer? One or more buyers may have told the seller that the offered product or service is, indeed, a good value. But it’s ultimately up to each buyer to decide the innate value of what’s offered. And what is a terrific value for one person may not ring true for the next. Don’t bother telling them you offer exceptional value; tell them, rather, what that exceptional value is, and then back it up by providing it.

Service

Advertising that promises great service is just that: a promise. Saying that the customer will get great service — or better service than what they’ll get from the competition — is not a great selling point because unless and until they experience otherwise, customers assume that you will treat them fairly, promptly and courteously. And if it’s in the advertisement that the customer will receive top-notch service, it’ll be that much easier for the customer to find something to complain about. (“Your ad said top-notch; you call this top-notch? Who you kidding?”)

When it comes to service (and, really, everything else on this list), perhaps the smartest advertising move is to underpromise and overdeliver.

Caring

This one is touchy. Or maybe just touchy-feely. Saying that you care about your customers is akin to saying that you offer great service — it’s expected of any decent company. It’s a bit like asking someone to trust you. And if you’re anything like me, you don’t trust anyone who says, “Trust me.” If you do trust those who ask for your trust, perhaps you also believe those who pepper their phrases with “actually,” “to tell you the truth,” “in fact” and “for real.” Why are those phrases necessary? They simply imply that what’s just been said is, indeed, true. Does that mean that all that came before is either flat-out wrong or should be questioned?

Don’t tell them that you’re telling them the truth; just tell them the truth. Don’t tell your customers how deeply you care about them; just care about them. Your actions speak much, much louder than that four-letter word.

Integrity

Integrity doesn’t rely on the customer to decide whether you have it or you don’t. You either do or you don’t. No gray area here.

Are you honest in all of your business dealings? Great — you’re full of integrity and it shows. Your customers will sing your praises all over Facebook and Twitter, not to mention through the telephone and during casual bump-ins with friends.

Do you dabble in shady deals and half-truths? Your ticket’s numbered and you know it.

A final note

As McKee points out, “what you think about your company doesn’t matter.” You can tell your potential customers how caring you are and how fantastic your service is until your pen runs dry, but what counts is their opinions. Tell them the benefits of your product or service. Share with them the results of those who have tried what you sell. Give them hard numbers, honest facts, real quotes from real people. Offer them a fair price for what you sell. And choose your advertising words carefully, putting yourself in your customers’ shoes. Would you believe what you write? If so, go for it.

If you have them, you don’t have to tell them.

I was fortunate to be involved in judging some of the best advertising, marketing, public relations and interactive work created for the agri-business industry.

The work was entered in the National Agri-Marketing Association’s Best of NAMA competition. A total of 41 judges gathered in Kansas City at the Crown Center Hyatt Exhibition Hall. Advertising and marketing professionals came from Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Georgia, South Dakota and Nebraska to take part in the Region 2 judging event. They reviewed and critiqued 1,217 entries over two 12-hour days. Judging criteria included creativity, execution and results.

I have a personal interest in the agriculture industry. My grandfather was a farmer, as was his father before him. They worked the land around the Tonganoxie, Kan., area for more than 100 years. As busy as my grandfather was, he always seemed to have a moment for me — even though he worked from before sunrise to after sunset. His son — my father — knew that I was in advertising and marketing but never really understood what I did for a living over the last 35 years. He knew that I was involved in the agriculture industry in some way and told me that my grandfather would be proud of me for supporting such an important industry. Every year, when I judge the Best of NAMA event, I think of my grandfather.

Agriculture is an important industry for America and the world, and the exhibition hall vibrated with the energy emitted from the marketers’ submissions. During these economically hard and uncertain times, agriculture has put forth an aggressive approach in efforts to “feed the world.” Large organizations supporting the industry have come together, reaching out to third-world countries in order to help people learn how to take care of themselves through the agricultural process. The marketing work that we judged this year made me proud to be a part of this global effort.

The number of entries in each category shifted from previous years. Interactive, online and social media more than doubled from the previous year. The PR entries reflected decreased budgets, with agencies donating most or all of their time. Results in all of these areas were measured as precisely as possible with the variety of tools and analytics that we have access to today. Yes, it’s a client’s dream.

This year’s traditional media included print, video, direct mail, outdoor and radio — all exceptionally creative, well-executed and entertaining. The dollars spent on traditional media were similar to years past, but the demographic was targeted more tightly. This helped save wasted production costs on trying to reach unsubstantiated potential customers, which in turn allowed more dollars to be allocated toward creativity and execution, particularly in the direct mail category.

Here are few of my favorite entries.  I don’t know if they will ultimately win, but they certainly caught my eye and are all winners to me.

Agriculture.  An important industry? Yes, I believe so.

National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) is the nation’s largest professional association for professionals in marketing and agribusiness. There are more then 1,730 members.

The marketing world has changed dramatically in recent years.  All of us can point to the invention of television, or the introduction of the Internet, as world-changing events.  But, here are some important inventions we sometimes forget to be thankful for…

The Invention that changed what we see:   The camera. 

IBM invented the very first smart phone, called SIMON, which incorporated voice and data services into one package. It is also a mixture of mobile phone and PDA and even a fax machine. Compared to the smart phone in present like iPhone, HTC MAX 4G, and SAMSUNG Galaxy it is really low-end and very expensive. Source: www.cellphones.org

We all know a picture is worth 1,000 words.  What would we do if we couldn’t show our products?

Question:  Do you know when the first advertisement with a photograph was made?

The Invention that changed how we sort data: The bar code.

These boring sets of black and white lines are everywhere.  First, they changed the way we shopped, and kept track of inventory.  Now, they are becoming a new way to communicate via a QR code.  Did you know JC Penney’s is providing a coded gift card so you can “tag” your gift with your own recorded voice, to be played back by the recipient using a QR scanner?

Question: Who dreamed up the original concept leading to the bar code?  And, when?

The Invention that changed the way we share and connect: Social Networking
More than three billion minutes are spent by computer users EVERY DAY on Facebook and Twitter — changing the way we interact and who we interact with.Millions of people now communicate tiny details of their lives by poking, twittering and posting. We chat with old friends – or meet complete strangers – worldwide.

Question: Who first discussed the strengths of networking, socially?

The Invention that ties all the other technologies together:  The Mobile Smart Phone.

This one combines the camera, data access and social connectivity we all want.  The mobile smart phone is a productivity game changer, with ever expanding opportunities to connect people with brands – through text messages, apps, mobile Internet browsing, QR code scanning, and more.

Question:  When was the first smart phone introduced?

Click here for answers!

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 5 of 5.

When you’re ready to tell your marketing story via social media, remember to tailor your message to the audience and to its expectations of the format.

For example, when readers go to a blog, they want to be informed or entertained — not sold.  When checking out a Facebook post, readers expect a quick, insightful “aha” moment — not a lengthy, rambling tale.

Watch this one-minute video excerpt to see the five social media storytelling tips that Drew McLellan presented at a recent seminar hosted by Armstrong|Shank.

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 4 of 5.

If people don’t have a strong feeling about you, they’ll never connect with your product.

Push yourself to tell great stories — or risk being forgotten.

Find out how author and business blogger Drew McLellan describes the “mushy middle” of advertising.

This 52-second video from Armstrong|Shank’s  “Storytelling and Social Media” seminar emphasizes the point.

Part 1: How much copy is too much?

Part 2: Listen and engage

Part 3: Telling your audience a story

This year, we are celebrating 30 years in business. To commemorate this achievement, we hosted a 30^th anniversary event that included a presentation by author and business blogger Drew McLellan entitled “Storytelling and Social Media.” In this five-part series, we will recap the highlights from his presentation. This is Part 3 of 5.

We know that telling your audience a story brings your message to life. And we understand that people remember stories far longer than they recall facts.

But how do you incorporate storytelling into advertising?

Most businesses begin by talking about their product and its features or benefits.  Unfortunately, this approach isn’t as effective as it could be.

In this wonderful example, author and business blogger Drew McLellan illustrates the magic that can happen when you begin by looking at the product from the customer’s point of view.

Watch the three-minute video from our “Storytelling and Social Media” seminar.

Part 1: How much copy is too much?

Part 2: Listen and Engage